A team of researchers led by Thomas J. Braciale, professor of pathology and microbiology at the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine have discovered a new way to trigger red blood cell production during a routine lab experiment. Their discovery has been published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
During a routine experiment, in which mice were injected with flu virus and an antibody to test the response of dendritic cells (messengers for the immune system), the researchers noticed that the mice's spleen became enlarged. When they saw this unexpected result, they tried the experiment again, and once more it resulted in spleen enlargement.
Prof. Braciale said, We did it again and I didn't believe it, and we did it again and I didn't believe it. I asked whether you needed to flu infect the mice when you injected this antibody. So the postdoc [a lab member] did the experiment, and he just injected the antibody without flu injecting the mice. Giant spleens. After much consultation, after talking with my colleagues in Pathology, we decided we were inducing stress erythropoiesis."
Stress erythropoiesis is the body's response to injury or stress, causing the body to produce more red blood cells.
At this point, the team realized they had discovered a way to trigger red blood cell production by inducing stress erythropoiesis with the antibody.
Prof. Braciale said that it appears that the process of regulating stress in the body involves dendritic cells." Dendritic cells were not thought to be involved in red blood cell production before this discovery.
The team's discovery creates the potential to treat anemia by turning on" production of red blood cells, as well as the ability to increase red blood cell production in soldiers awaiting transfusions, and treating those whose religions forbid blood transfusions.
Although the research has been on animals to this point, Prof. Braciale explained, We know that the same things can be done in humans in the following sense. There are mice called humanized mice. These are mice that are engineered so they have a human blood system. And if you inject these mice with this antibody, they'll make red blood cells."
The World Health Organization estimates that anemia affects over 800 million women and children.
Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia. Chronic anemia is very prevalent in the elderly population.
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